Got a kind of an answer here, and it may surprise a lot of folks: Of 386 languages surveyed, close to half -- 45% -- allow a zero copula in sentences like "John is a sailor".
This is from the World Atlas of Language Structures Online (WALS); click on the chapter title just below for more detail.
This map shows the areal distribution of zero copula encoding for predicate nominals. That is, the map indicates whether a given language is like English, in which predicate nominals always require an overt copula (see 1), or rather like Russian, in which omission of the copula is allowed for at least some constructions (see 2).
(1) a. John is a sailor. b. *John a sailor. [The asterisk means "This is ungrammatical: no native speaker would say it or accept it, unless by mistake."]
(2) Russian (Maria Koptjevskaja-Tamm p.c.) Moskva gorod Moscow city ‘Moscow is a city.’
Thus, the following values will be shown on the map:
Values of Map 120A. Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals
⬤
Zero copula is impossible
211
⃝
Zero copula is possible
175
total:
386
Respectfully submitted, Dr. Whom, Consulting Linguist, Grammarian, Orthoëpist, and Philological Busybody
An answer
This is from the World Atlas of Language Structures Online (WALS); click on the chapter title just below for more detail.
Respectfully submitted,
Dr. Whom, Consulting Linguist, Grammarian, Orthoëpist, and Philological Busybody